LIKE-FARMING - 'Mercedes Benz CLA 45' Facebook Giveaway

Outline

Facebook Page claims that users can win a 'Mercedes Benz CLA 45 just by liking the page, liking and sharing a promotional post, and adding a comment specifying what colour car they would like.

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Brief Analysis

The Page is bogus and the competitions that it promotes are not legitimate. There are no winners and no cars are being given away. This is a like-farming scam designed to fraudulently increase the number of likes garnered by the Page. Facebook Pages with high like-numbers can later be used to perpetrate further scams to a large audience. Alternatively, the Pages may be sold on the black market to other scammers.

Example

We are giving 6 Mercedes Benz CLA 45 AMG On July 30, 2014
Lucky Winners Will Be Announced On July 29, 2014
Step 1) Like this Page
Step 2) Like this Post
Step 3) Comment which color you want. (White OR Red)
Step 4) Share on your wall
Winners will be Chosen & Announced On July 29, on this page.
Good Luck ,

Detailed Analysis

Facebook Page Promises Free Mercedes Benz CLA 45

According to a 'Competitions' Facebook Page that is currently being promoted across the network, you could win one of 6 Mercedes Benz CLA 45's just by liking the Page, liking and sharing a Page post, and adding a Page comment specifying your desired car colour.

The Page claims that winners will be announced on July 29.

Page is a Like-Farming Scam

However, the claims on the Page are lies. No Mercedes Benz cars are being given away. No matter how much liking, sharing, or commenting you do, you will not win a Mercedes or anything else.

The promised prizes are just a scammer ruse designed to trick you into liking and sharing the Page and its bogus promotions.

The goal of like-farming scams is to gain as many new likes as possible for a Facebook Page in a short time. By tricking people into not only liking the page itself, but also sharing its material and making comments, the scammers ensure that their bogus competition get seen by many Facebook users, thereby gathering many more likes.

Facebook Pages with high like-numbers are a valuable commodity to scammers and unscrupulous online marketers.

Such Pages can later be used to launch further scam campaigns, this time on a much wider audience. Often, after an initial like-farming campaign, a second fake promotion is launched that is designed to trick people into participating in survey scams.

The scammers may also use the bogus Pages to perpetrate advance fee scams.
Alternatively, the like-heavy Pages can be sold via a lucrative black market to other scammers who will repurpose it to further their own goals.